DocuSign Raises $85M To Speed Up Product Innovation, Expand Into New Verticals

Electronic signature platform DocuSign today announced that it has raised $85 million in a new funding round led by a group of large institutional funds. Sadly, the company isn’t disclosing which funds participated in this investment.

This latest round is the company’s largest so far. It previously raised $27 million and $55.7 million rounds in 2010 and 2012. Rumors earlier this year pointed at a $100 million round at a valuation as high as $1.5 billion dollars.

DocuSign, which launched in 2003, says it currently has 95,000 businesses as customers with about 48 millions of users in 188 countries. More than 40,000 new users sign up for the service every day, according to the company’s own data.

DocuSign’s plan for the new funding is to fuel growth. Specifically, the company tells me, it plans to further innovate on its DocuSign digital transaction management platform and drive deeper vertical industry solutions. In addition, the company plans to use these funds to grow strategic partnerships and accelerate international expansion.

“We have the opportunity to change the way business is done for companies large and small,” said Keith Krach, chairman and CEO of DocuSign in a canned statement today. “Our latest round of financing positions us to help more customers around the world keep business digital with DocuSign as the catalyst for their digital transformations. Our goal is to be a long-term sustainable company that provides value to our customers, partners, employees, and investors for many years to come.”

Last year, DocuSign CFO Mike Dinsdale told the Wall Street Journal that the company isn’t interested in being acquired. Instead, Dinsdale said an IPO “is logical at some point.” The company’s 2012 round, he said, put the company on an IPO track. When I asked about what today’s funding round meant in this context, the company told me that it sees an IPO “simply as a financing event, and we’ll look at taking that step if and when it becomes appropriate in the future.” For now, the company says, its focus is “100% on building a long-term sustainable company that provides incredible value for customers, partners, employees and investors for years to come.”